Looking forward to next year’s big contest – and no mention of the 'r' word

WHAT a joy it was, the other night, to go beyond September 18, 2014 without anyone mentioning “that” referendum. It was especially pleasing, remarkable even, given that one of the speakers was First Minister Alex Salmond.

The occasion was a dinner at Gleneagles Hotel to mark the fact that there’s one year to go before Scotland hosts the Ryder Cup and which was attended by the captains of both the European and United States’ teams – Paul McGinley and Tom Watson, respectively.

Although the hotel has never hosted the Ryder Cup before, Gleneagles can lay claim to being the setting for the forerunner of what has become one of the world’s greatest sporting events. In 1921 a team of professionals from Great Britain took on and defeated an American side, which incidentally contained several émigré Scots, over the King’s Course. It was another six years before the first competition for the Ryder Cup, proper, was held in the USA.

In a witty speech Mr Salmond reminded the Gleneagles dinner guests that because the hotel had not been completed at the time of that first match 92 years ago the sides were accommodated in a series of railway carriages at the sidings in nearby Auchterarder. And he joked with Tom Watson that he planned to install the US team in those self-same railway carriages again for next year’s competition.

For the first time, at least as far as this observer is concerned, Mr Salmond’s speech did not contain the words “referendum” or “independence” or anything resembling them; and it was none the worse for those omissions.

Instead, he pointed out that the competition would bring in an estimated £100million in revenue for Scotland and would be watched by something like 500million people on television around the world every day.

More importantly, perhaps, he also won support from Tom Watson and from the US golfing authorities for a new Scottish Government initiative to use the Ryder Cup to launch an online educational resource. It helps school pupils learn about subjects such as history, science, physical education and event management through golf-related topics.

Yesterday both captains launched the scheme when they visited Auchterarder Community School and Watson, the winner of eight majors, said: “This is a programme of practical application, and we need to do more things like this in the States. The skills they can pick up aren’t only to do with the Ryder Cup or golf but can be used everyday, so it’s a good thing.”

Some 250,000 spectators from 75 countries are expected at next year’s competition, which begins on September 26 — eight days after the referendum in which Scots will have decided whether or not their country is to become independent.